What do you think is the best way to sell a 100% complete high graded set?

Late1970sTopps

Question guys. I have a number of complete 1970's and 1980's PSA graded baseball and basketball sets that I'm thinking of parting with. I started putting these together as a labor of love in the late 1990's and haven't done anything with them since about 2015. Many of the cards I submitted myself when you could grade them for $6 each or less. While most of the sets are no longer listed on the set registry, I did recently add my 1975 and 1976 Topps Baseball sets to the forum. They are ranked #4 and #9 in the current finest. The current VCP value for each of the sets using last sales price come out to over $225,000 and $83,000, respectively. There are cards that are low population examples that have never sold, and thus, have no value listed. What do you think is the best way to part with them while still maximizing value? Would you use an auction house or try to sell them all at once to a dealer or collector? I'd love to get your opinions.

jackstraw

Hey Frank! Wow it's been a long time. I hope all is well. I would consign to a Heritage or some auction house as whole sets and let them do all the work.

smallstocks

Absolutely no question. Auction house. In addition to Heritage there are a few other very high-end auction sites now that can help you get top dollar.

Late1970sTopps

smallstocks - What other high-end auction sites would you recommend? Frank

Formerlyjmdvm

Mile High Card Company in Colorado will auction the complete set AND each card individually. If the complete set out performs the total of the individual card sales, then the set is sold as a whole. If the individual card sales are greater than the winning bid of the complete set, then the set is broken up. Best of both worlds.

grote15

Do you have any 1975 minis? Sounds like an awesome collection. Good luck!

gemint

Love of the Game is another great auction house to work with. Al has auctioned some high end late 1950s and early 1960s sets and the results were great. Usually auctioning card-by-card maximizes value, or a combination of individual card lots for the more valuable cards and then lumping the higher pop commons into small group lots works best.

If you auction them off, I'll be looking for a few upgrades for my sets. I noticed your 1976 set doesn't have the Tom Detorre. Hopefully you have a 9 as that's one of the few I still need to upgrade.

Good luck with the auctions!

estang

I would send an email to the top auction houses with links to your sets, request a phone conversation to discuss and from that narrow it down. Perhaps you even have them give you a proposal on what they will do to market/sell your sets, including how to efficiently and safely get the cards from your home to them. Have them wow/impress you.

Good luck & keep us posted. If you have any raw nice cards available, please let me know.

sagard

I'd talk to REA Marketplace team. Last year it was only a five percent commission. You have a good feel for what they will sell for. Eliminate as much costs as possible. Congrats on the sets!

smallstocks

@Late1970sTopps said:
smallstocks - What other high-end auction sites would you recommend? Frank

These days there are quite a few. You can try to get the best deal. But not all auction houses will allow you to list every card in the set individually and also have people bid on the set as a whole. That can be important because if the individual cards in total bring in more bids than the set as a whole, you get the higher amount.

Anyway, REA, Mile High, Memory Lane, Heritage . . .

Late1970sTopps

Guys - Thanks for the comments and advice! After going to The National and talking to a few dealers, I decided to give the sets to Brian at Mile High Card Company. He plans to pull out some of the PSA 10 lower population examples and stars and replace them with 9's that I've aways kept in reserve. That way there will be auctions for the truly rare cards as well as the sets as a whole. I've also decided breakup my 1977 Topps Baseball set on eBay. The first of the 100 cards started as 10-day auctions tonight. Frank

Late1970sTopps

GEMINT - Funny story about the 1976 Dettore. I had that card in a 9 and took, what I thought at the time, was a stupid high price for it. I thought I had an 8 in reserve, but I can't seem to find it. So now I'm looking for a PSA 8 as a filler to show that the set is 100% complete. Frank